Editorial: Out front

Everyone probably has an example of a derelict or otherwise severely rundown building located somewhere in the city they like to talk about.

So does city council, and judging by the looks of things, its list may be long and extensive. It’s fairly well known that the city is focussing on Little Ave., the short gravelled street just east of the arena and aquatic complex, named after city founder George Little.

The city has had its eye on three properties there, including one which has a place in local history, that of a Red Cross hospital, Terrace’s first.

But on Park Ave., just one street over from Little Ave., sits a house that’s been boarded up for years.

And what of the two-storey building on Kalum St., right across the street from the law courts. That’s also been boarded up for years.

There may be reasons to allow buildings to fall into states of disrepair. But these reasons must be temporary and cannot be allowed to become permanent, particularly if those same buildings contain tenants.

That city council is meeting in private on the matter of derelict and abandoned buildings may speak to the delicate nature of individual circumstances.

But there are overarching matters of health and safety to consider.

It’s past time city council initiates a public discussion aimed at creating a definitive policy.

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